SpellboundDirector Says There Was 'Concern' Men Won't Click on Netflix Film Because It's a Musical (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Ellian with her monster mom and dad.Photo:Netflix

Netflix

Spellbounddirector Vicky Jenson is loud and proud about the animated film being a musical.

There’s been a recenttrend in studios masking a film’s song-and-dance elementsin ads in attempts to lure non-musical moviegoers, but Jenson never wanted to “hide” that aboutSpellbound.

“This is an Alan Menken musical, and we’re very, very proud of that,” Jenson tells PEOPLE. “It’s very exciting for me to meet him and get to work with him and be part of his legacy of great musicals.”

“He has said that this is probably the best work he’s ever done,” she adds, noting thatSpellboundis “a very unusual musical.”

“It breaks some of the old paradigms for musicals,” explains Jenson. “I think there may be some concern that dads or men might not go or click on it because it’s a musical, but in my experience that’s not the case. So I don’t want to hide it."

Ellian with Flink and her monster parents in Spellbound.Netflix

Ellian and other members of the royal court have been diligently working to keep the king and queen’s transformation a secret, but as it threatens to spill out, the princess is forced to make the daring quest or risk her parents being exiled.

In addition to Jenson’s direction and Menken’s musical talents, Glenn Slater, who also worked onTangled, is a key member of the film’s production team, aiding in the musical numbers.

Plus, the cast also includesNathan Lane,Titus BurgessandJohn Lithgow. “He does the best pompous,” Jenson, also a co-director of 2001’sShrek, says of Lithgow, 79. “No one gives pompous like John Lithgow.”

Throughout her journey to save her parents, Ellian and her companion critter Flink have to fight off the darkness, which serves as a metaphor for negative thoughts and feelings.

Flink in Spellbound.Netflix

Instead of offloading those feelings onto the adorable companion character, it was ultimately decided they would be “buried” in Ellian’s character.

Flink’s character poses a different arc throughout the tale, leaving the young princess to battle the darkness, internally and externally. This same darkness plays a key role in her parents’ transformation and is a vital component in the story’s overarching theme.

“From day one this was a story about a family experiencing a period of time that’s difficult,” Jenson says. “That was always the goal.”

NETFLIX

Spellboundis on Netflix Nov. 22.

source: people.com